Description:
GIMP, the Gnu Image Manipulation Program, is the freely available image editor and paint program that runs under Unix or Linux. It offers many of the features of mainstream tools like Photoshop, and features that the others lack. The GIMP Essential Reference is a valuable guide for anyone doing serious work with the GIMP. This little book covers the interface and tool sets, how the effects work, and how the GIMP handles layering and masking. The most valuable chapter is certainly "Writing Your Own Script-Fu." Script-Fu is the GIMP's scripting system, which is extremely powerful and flexible, allowing the one feature that makes the GIMP stand head and shoulders above the mainstream tools. Script-Fu is much more than a macro recorder. Images can be manipulated, effects can be controlled, and complex and repetitive tasks can be made painless. This feature is very popular with Web developers and Web administrators, who can use the GIMP for automatic creation of graphics. Another standout chapter discusses how the GIMP handles non-native file formats like JPG, PSD (Photoshop's native format), GIF, and others. It also describes creating and using graphic formats on the Web--the right formats, the right color palette, and using the GIMP to create GIF animations. Two drawbacks come to mind when paging through the book: it does not include a CD-ROM, and it lacks color plates. No doubt this helped keep down production costs, but when a book about a graphics and painting program should include some color examples (especially in the chapters that discuss color manipulation.) Still, this is a valuable reference guide for anyone making a break toward this open-source graphics manipulation software. The reference chapters on the function definitions for scripting are a valuable asset, especially when you want to browse through it without sitting at a computer. --Mike Caputo
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